Phillip L. Scheldt – Rants and Raves and……..

Month: September 2014

No one knows anything. Confidence is a front. Everybody is insecure. We’re all lonely looking to be connected. AND… You really want to be involved with someone your own age, because no matter how attractive a younger person might be, they do not get the references.

Some people were dead at thirty. It’s a full time job trying to stay alive. You’re never going to recover from some physical ills, aches and pains.

Your parents said television was the idiot box, and you feel guilty every time you watch for hours, but you’re addicted.

If you were never on the path to riches, you will never be rich. Having friends is better than having money. BUT…

Doors are closing every day. If there’s something you want to do, start now.

People let you down. Everybody is out for themselves. They make decisions accordingly. Don’t take it personally.

People are dying to tell you their story. Ask them questions. They’ll tell you everything.

The key to longevity is letting go of the past.

You won’t know who the people they’re talking about in “People” and the rest of the gossip rags are, and you won’t care.

No one can keep a secret.

If you’re up for anything, we’re attracted to you.

You don’t want to be President.

Life is topsy-turvy, just because someone’s successful today, that does not mean they will be so tomorrow.

Even the best and the brightest have kids who screw up.

Not everybody grows up, some are still bullies. People who would hit you as kids won’t hit you as an adult, mostly because they’re afraid of the lawsuit.

You’ll regret you stopped piano lessons.

You’ll think it was better when you were young. Because it’s what i’ve learned prior to 60.

My first two companies failed. Both were planned out in detail on business plans. When I started had no plan and no vision past two years. It was a simple idea scratched out on a napkin. The goal was not millions, nor was it build and flip. It was about figuring out a way to hack together a business that would make me the $4,000 a month I needed to survive

Start with a vision. Preferably, in the words of Joe Vitale: “One that SCARES you a little and EXCITES you a lot.”

We all have different skills. But there’s one skill I feel is most crucial to entrepreneurial success. It’s the ability to sell. I scoffed at the idea of marketing and sales. Tesla was an amazing engineer. He ended up broke and depressed as the Engineer-Salesman Edison took his ideas and made them count.

In that famous Apple ad, “Here’s to the Crazy Ones”, Steve Jobs actually contributed just one line. It was “push humanity forward”. That’s what real entrepreneurs do. Peter Diamand is taking mankind to space. Branson adds fun, quality service and cheekiness to old entrenched industries. Tony Hsieh “delivers happiness”. I believe in teaching the world new things that enrich the human potential.

I’m not asking you to dedicate your life to changing the world just try not to mess it up for our children. I’m just asking you to not launch businesses that sell crap, pillage the environment, take advantage of developing nations or like Coke – market junk that lead to childhood obesity and other health disasters.

Know the difference between and entrepreneur and a businessman? Here’s the difference:

I like smart people. I like to learn something.
Which is why I don’t watch TV singing competitions, where no one goes on to glory and it’s only about the ratings and I’m more interested in seeing “Shark Tank.”

That’s today’s world. Used to be everybody wanted to be a musician and have a hit record, today everybody wants to be an entrepreneur and go on “Shark Tank” and get an investment.

But they’re oftentimes so uninformed, they can’t possibly be successful. But unlike in music, the sharks tell the truth.

Kinda like the balloon guy back in January. A shark asked…”How can I make money on this?”

That was one of the great things said last week. That the balloon man was a great SALESMAN, but he hadn’t proven he was a great MANAGER! That if he wanted to grow his business he had to hire other salesmen.

And that his franchising idea was bogus.

But smart people never take their eye from the prize, they know it’s not about feelings, but winning.

The twentieth century was all about scarcity, making it to the top and then dominating. Today there’s so much information that you feel inadequate. It’s an endless buffet that never closes where you find yourself unable to resist taking one more bite, yet still believe there’s something you don’t know. Distribution used to raise certain elements above, if it was in the paper, if it was on TV, it was important. Now it just has to be on the Internet, and anybody and anything can be on the Internet.

INADEQUACY

Used to be you only had to compare yourself to the people in your neighborhood, you drove a Chevy, they piloted a Cadillac. Today you compare yourself to everybody in the world. There were always princes, always oligarchs, but now you know their names and want some of what they’ve got. Even worse is those people with the Cadillacs… Now you can peer into their lives via Facebook and other social media. The somewhat rich flaunt it and you sit at home snickering that you haven’t got it.

VENERATION OF YOUTH

We see their slim, perky bodies everywhere and they seem to be the only people who can figure out the new technology, and they’re always on to something new, whether it be Instagram or Snapchat or… You may wear skinny jeans and diet yourself down to nothing, but deep inside you feel that you’re missing out, that you don’t know what’s really going on.

Life is about experiences. Whether you’ve traveled to Asia more than whether you’ve added to your house and drive a fancy car.

This is a sea change which the baby boomers resist. Oh, they’ve got all the new electronic toys, but they cling to the old ones too, because they’re afraid if they forgo them, they’ll lose their status. But young ‘uns are more about being members of the group than separating themselves therefrom. It’s who you know as opposed to what you’ve got.

Sure, there are exceptions. Fashion is burgeoning. Baby boomers wore their bell bottoms and BVDs, kids have a cornucopia of outfits, which are not only cheap, but evidence their style, which is super-important.

Could it be that the game has changed to such a degree that oldsters cannot play because they don’t understand it?

Could there be a generation gap equivalent to the one separating the boomers from their parents?

Just think about it. Snapchat is the rage and it disappears!

So instead of building that mansion you’re better off downsizing. Spending that money on trips and meals, ever notice that kids snap photos of their food as opposed to their apartments? Remember Life is about experiences.

Physical items are souvenirs. Not to be of use so much as mementos of experiences. They will not die, but they’re certainly fading in importance.